The University of Maine softball team begins its spring trip – or, rather, cross-country journey – Friday when the Black Bears take on America East Conference foe Albany in Deland, Fla.

The Bears will move on to Clearwater, Fla., on March 4. Then it’s off to Hawaii for a tournament in Honolulu.

“Our schedule takes us on some nice trips,” UMaine coach Stacey Sullivan said. “We’re going out west for the first time. We’ve always traditionally gone down to Florida and we had an opportunity arise late in the summer through the University of Hawaii. Because we have that two-week spring break trip we’re able to do a lengthy trip like that.”

At the Deland tournament, which is being hosted by Stetson University, the Bears will face the Great Danes along with Stetson and Western Michigan.

The Clearwater tourney field will feature South Florida, Central Michigan, North Carolina State, Jacksonville, Penn State and St. Joseph’s (Pa.).

Things get even tougher in Hawaii, where the Bears will play the Warriors, along with Hawaii-Pacific, Texas Tech, North Carolina and Texas.

Maine started its season with a tournament in Greenville, N.C., in which the Bears dropped all five games they played against Ohio, East Carolina and Boston College. The last three of those losses were all by one run and the final loss, which came against Ohio, was 3-2 in nine innings.

Junior shortstop Ashley Waters leads the Bears with a .700 batting average. She already has seven hits, including a double and a home run, and two RBIs with a 1.100 slugging average. Sophomore Alexis Souhlaris, who set the single-season stolen base record last year, is already 3-for-3.

As a team, however, Maine has been struggling offensively. The Bears are batting .207 with 46 strikeouts.

Souhlaris refocuses on pitching

When Alexis Souhlaris was recruited to play softball at UMaine, it wasn’t as a pitcher.

One year later, however, the sophomore captain has found herself in the circle.

Although she spent her rookie season in center field, Souhlaris as a pitcher isn’t a stretch. She was named the New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year as a pitcher when she was a high school senior at Derry Academy.

Souhlaris’ move back to pitching started this summer, when Souhlaris went to play for a semipro team in southern California. Maine coach Stacey Sullivan suggested to Souhlaris that she might try a little pitching, just to see how she felt.

A few sessions with the pitching coach in California, and things looked brighter.

“At first it was exciting but kind of nerve-wracking. I wasn’t sure I could get back to the level I was at,” Souhlaris said. “But I really wanted to try it. It took a lot of energy for me to focus and realize that I wasn’t going to be where I was in high school right away. … Every session was a little better and it got me excited to come back.”

Souhlaris is 0-2, but she leads the Bears with a 2.33 earned-run average in 15 innings of work. She also has a team-low .218 opponents batting average.

“She pitched some games for us [during the fall schedule] and she’s going to take the ball for us,” Sullivan said. “She’s just an athlete. She can virtually do anything.”

Coutts back on coaching staff

Former Black Bear star Lynn (Hearty) Coutts has joined Sullivan on the UMaine staff as an assistant coach and pitching consultant.

“The pitchers have really responded to her,” said Sullivan, who graduated from Maine in 1999. “It’s just been great having her back with Black Bear athletics because just with her being around, everyone knows her and has a great feeling about what she’s done for the athletic programs at Maine.”

This is Coutts’ second stint as a coach. She served six years under then-head coach Janet Anderson.

As a player, Coutts was named an NCAA Northeast All-American in 1987, the first time a Maine player earned that honor.

Coutts and her husband Mike, a former Black Bear baseball player and coach, live in Scarborough.

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

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